The frequency with which Australia’s director-general of security now addresses the public should give us pause. Before Director-General Mike Burgess, leaders of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) rarely spoke beyond closed briefings. Today, those speeches have become annual fixtures, and are increasing in frequency. This year alone, there have been three: the Annual Threat Assessment in February, the Hawke Oration on counting and countering the cost of espionage in July, and his Sydney Town Hall lecture on 4 November. There are some immediately evident reasons for this shift, as Burgess himself noted this week. Security intelligence—ASIO’s mission—is fundamentally a social enterprise. Detecting foreign spies, stopping terrorists, countering foreign interference and preventing communal violence all depend on building trust with the communities most exposed to those threats. Public engagement strengthens ASIO’s social legitimacy—its licence to operate—by showing transparency about purpose and proportionality.
ASIO’s step-up in warning frequency means we are less secure | The Strategist
